Bournemouth Training: Week 1

First week of marathon training. If you had asked me last year if I would be typing those words in 2017 I would have said no. But … here we go!

This week was all about getting my routine right. I’ve got 19 weeks to go and as my running for the last month has been rather on the low side due to my running groups and coaching commitments I thought it best to ease into things. So this week and next week are my “prep” weeks, trying things out before I start training proper.

I have decided to run 3-4 times per week plus yoga and strength training sessions. This will give me a good base and allow me to work around my coaching. My running days are mainly going to be Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, with my Wednesday run being my beginners group run and my Thursday likely to be another group run over the summer. Which leaves Monday for my speed or strength running and Saturday for my long runs.

This week looked like this.

Monday was a bank holiday in the UK and I didn’t have any coaching in the evening. Instead I asked my Thursday night beginners group if anyone wanted to run a homework run with me (yes, I give them homework each week!). I had one person join me and we ran 13 minutes x 2 with a minute walk break in between.

I started Wednesday off with my yoga session and in the evening I had my beginners group. This was just under two miles of running and walking for me. I try to run with everyone in the group during the session so it’s a nice social run for me. I expect the mileage will increase over the summer but this is going to be one of my lighter days of running.

Thursday I had my two evening groups. The beginners ran 15 minutes x 2 with a minute walk break and I took the improvers through techniques for running downhill. In total I ran just under 5 miles between the two groups

Saturday was my long run, although at 45 minutes I know this is going to be the shortest long run of this training cycle!

One thing this easy, start off week has taught me is that I’m going to have to be aware of how much sleep I get. From now on Mondays and Wednesdays will have earlier alarm times as I’ll be getting in my Monday run and Wednesday yoga before I start work. As they are also days where I have coaching or group runs in the evening, they will be longer days than I’m used to. I’m not someone who goes to bed early, it’s very unusual for me to be in bed before 11pm, so I am going to have to commit to making sure I go to bed before 11am at least two days per week. As I get deeper into marathon training I know I will appreciate the extra sleep!

Become a Better Runner in 4 weeks!

I am a UK Athletics qualified Running Coach and love working with runners at all stages and abilities.
You can see me running in the countryside, in towns and in the city, often in my Vegan Runners vest and sometimes with my dog.

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